Srinagar, Dec 10: The J&K government on Friday set up an adoption resource agency to deal with adoption and related matters in the union territory.

As per an order issued to this effect by the General Administration Department, the J&K Adoption Resource Agency (JKARA) constituted under section 67 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 will be chaired by Secretary Social Welfare Department while Mission Director, Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), Director, Health Services Jammu/ Kashmir, one member of the State Legal Services Authority, Chairperson of a Child Welfare Committee (CWC), representative of specialized adoption agency and a member from civil society involved in child welfare and protection for at least 10 years would be its members.

The agency would deal with adoption and related matters in the UT under the guidance of the Central Adoption Resource Agency constituted in terms of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

It would also function as the executive arm of the Jammu and Kashmir government for promotion, facilitation, monitoring and regulation of the adoption programme in the UT and perform such functions as are prescribed under adoption regulations, 2017 issued by the Ministry of Child Development.

It will also carry out such other functions as may be assigned by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) from time to time.

Srinagar, Dec 10: Jammu and Kashmir on Friday constituted Jammu and Kashmir Adoption Resource Agency to deal with adoption and related matters.

“Sanction in terms of Section 67 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 read with Rule 33(1) of the Adoption Regulations, 2017, is hereby accorded to constitution of the Jammu and Kashmir Adoption Resource Agency,” reads a government order.

Headed by Secretary Social Welfare Department, the seven-member committee comprises Mission Director, ICPS, J&K; one member of the State Legal services Authority (to be nominated by the Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs); Chairperson of a Child Welfare (to be nominated by the Social Welfare Department on| the recommendation of Mission Director, ICPS); Representative of Specialized Adoption nominated by the Social Welfare Department recommendation of Director, ICPS) and Member for Civil Society involved in Child Welfare and Protection for at least 10 years (to be nominated by the Social Welfare Department).

The terms of reference of the Jammu and Kashmir Adoption Resource Agency is to deal with adoption and related matters in the Jammu & Kashmir under the guidance of the Central Adoption Resource Agency constituted in terms of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

It has been also tasked to function as the executive arm of the Jammu and Kashmir Government for promotion, facilitation, monitoring and regulation of the adoption programme in the Jammu and Kashmir.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should make his stance clear in the adoption row, said social activist Medha Patkar. Speaking to the media after meeting Anupama Chandran and Ajith here on Saturday, she demanded to know the stand of women’s organisations in the issue.“The bad experiences faced by Anupama cannot be justified. She’ll continue her fight on the issue. The women’s organisations in the state should take a firm stance in the matter,’” said Medha.

She met Anupama at the YMCA hall along with social workers and solidarity committee members. Terming the developments unfortunate, Medha said government agencies should function as per the law.

“Government agencies are bound to act as per the law and Constitution. Protecting the rights of the mother and child are also part of the same. However, that didn’t happen in this case,” she said.

Medha Patkar offered her support to Anupama and asked her to go ahead without fear. J Devika explained the controversy and the stand taken by the government and the child welfare committee in the issue. Dr Asad, C R Neelakandan and S Mini also spoke on the occasion.

Mariya Abdi Ibrahim won another case at Europe’s human rights court in 2019 over the forced adoption of her son, which resulted in Norway changing some of its regulations around adoption.

STRASBOURG, France (CN) — Norway violated the human rights of a Muslim refugee from Somalia when authorities removed her child from her care and placed him with a Christian family, Europe’s top rights court held Friday.

The European Court of Human Rights found that placing Mariya Abdi Ibrahim's son with an evangelical Christian couple against her wishes violated her right to family life.

Ibrahim arrived in Norway at the age of 16, with her then 3-month-old son in tow. Originally from Somalia, she fled after the terrorist group al-Shabaab targeted her for being unmarried and pregnant. When her son was 10 months old, the Norwegian Child Welfare Services removed him from Ibrahim’s care, citing neglect and abuse. He was ultimately adopted by a Norwegian couple who are members of the Evangelical Mission Covenant Church and cut all ties with his biological mother.

In 2019, the Strasbourg-based rights court found that Norway hadn’t done enough to keep mother and son together. It found the country's actions violated the 1953 European Convention of Human Rights, which created the court and protects the civil and political rights of Europeans. That decision led to some changes in Norway's adoption regulations.

Anupama S Chandran’s newborn child was sent away by her parents, who were unhappy that his father was from the Dalit caste

Through the rains and steamy heat of November, day and night, Anupama S Chandran sat by the gates of the Kerala state secretariat. She refused to eat, drink or be moved. Her single demand was written on a placard: “Give me my baby.”

The story of Chandran’s fight to get back her child, who was snatched from her by her own family days after he was born and put up for adoption without her knowledge, is one that has been greeted with both horror and a sad familiarity in India.

In a society that remains split by the fault lines of caste, Chandran’s ordeal exposed the cruelties still inflicted upon women who dare to cross those lines.

Chandran, the daughter of a local leader from the Communist party of India, was a 19-year-old student when she fell for Ajith Kumar. Each was involved in leftwing political activism. He was 10 years older and previously married, but it was a friendship that gradually grew closer until they realised they had fallen in love.

Joohee Bourgain, anti-racist and feminist activist, is the author of a book that deconstructs the myths and the colonial imagination on which the international adoption system is based.

A secondary school teacher, Joohee Bourgain is also an anti-racist and feminist activist. Author of International Adoption: Myths and Realities (Anacaona, 17 p., € 15), herself adopted from South Korea, she deconstructs the myths surrounding international adoption. In particular that of the orphan who must be saved from a life of misery, by linking this phenomenon to an asymmetrical power relationship between North and South. For her, abuses are intrinsic to the international adoption system, based on financial transactions around children and women's bodies.

What are the main myths surrounding international adoption?

The myth of abandonment, first of all: we will consider that abandonment is the sole cause of adoption. This myth must be deconstructed, because it tends to throw the responsibility only on the birth parents, and, suddenly, we do not see the whole system that results in a final separation from the birth family. This is why I prefer the term “separation” to “abandon”. There is a whole set of intermediary actors, in particular authorized bodies for adoption (OAA), economic, social, cultural factors ... In South Korea, for example, the "local patriarchy" discriminates against single women, who will be pressured to give up their child for adoption because they are considered incapable of raising him.

The idea is to equate adopted children with biological children

MUMBAI: A 16-year-old Swedish girl who befriended a 19-year-old on

social media and flew to Mumbai to live with him without her parents'

knowledge, was found in Cheeta Camp, Trombay, by the city crime branch

and handed over to her parents on Friday.

Her father, who took her custody from Dongri's Children Welfare Home,

The Calcutta High Court has recently refused to grant custody of a four and a half years

old girl child to her biological father and instead permitted the child to be in the care and

protection of a family friend of her deceased mother.

However, the Court has granted visitation rights to the biological father after observing

that the bond between the child and her natural father ought to be encouraged from a

With which countries will Flanders still cooperate for adoption? The government decided this morning that potential partner countries will be subject to a risk analysis. Countries that fail will be deleted.

In 2019, stories about abuses with adoptions from Ethiopia woke up Flanders: some adopted 'orphans' later turned out not to be orphans at all.

As a result, an expert panel looked into the adoption process. They presented their report in early September. On their advice, Flemish Minister of Welfare Wouter Beke (CD&V) proposed a two-year adoption break to review the system. Minister Beke had to withdraw that proposal after criticism from coalition partners N-VA and Open Vld. But a system was devised to prevent fraud in the future.

In concrete terms, it will no longer be the adoption services but the Flemish Adoption Center (VCA) that will screen all partner countries. Six criteria have now been drawn up for this. Countries must first and foremost have signed and ratified the Hague Adoption Convention. That 2005 treaty makes adoption a right to protection for children, not a right to children for parents.

RECEPTION FIRST IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY

Maeve’s law will legalise partial DNA donations, allowing women to give birth without passing on a genetic disease

Members of parliament have voted to legalise controversial mitochondrial donation in the first conscience vote since same-sex marriage in 2017.

The legislation, known as Maeve’s law, will legalise partial DNA donations, allowing women to give birth without passing on a genetic disease.

The bill amended the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 (Cth), and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 (Cth), and was subject to a conscience vote.

It passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday night, 92 votes to 29.